Wheeled scraper



Oct. 7, 1941. T. R. PAULSEN WHEELED SCRAPER Filed Feb. 13, 1959 JZMGJ %a5se%,

} INVENTOR, 2cm, W we;

ATTORNEYS- Patented Oct. 7, 1941 UNITED STATES WHEELED SCRAPER Thomas lh'laulsen, South Milwaukee, Wis.,' assignor to Bucyrus-Erie Company, South Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware 7 Application February 13, 1939, Serial No. 256,089

11 Claims.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in wheeled scrapers, and more particularly to that type of such scrapers in which the digging edge of the bowl is pivoted with a closure known as an apron capable of holding and carrying a substantial portion of the excavated dirt. Two subtypes of such scrapers are respectively illustrated in my U. S. Patent No. 2,106,759, issued February 1, 1938, and in the copending application of Horace C. Beitzel and myself, Serial No. 130,933, filed March 15, 1937, now Patent No. 2,159,045.

I have found that, when digging loose material such as dry sand with such scrapers, the sand flow out of the open digging end of the bowl just about as fast as it flows in.

Accordingly it is the principal object of this present invention to provide means whereby the incoming sand is instead distributed well into the bowl and the apron.

In addition to my principal object, above stated, I have worked out a number of novel and useful details, which will be readily evident asthe description progresses.

My invention consists in the novel parts and in the combination and arrangements thereof, which are defined in the appended claims, and of which one embodiment is exemplified in the ac'- c'ompanying drawing, which is hereinafter particularly described and explained.

Throughout the description, the same reference number is applied to the same member or to similar members.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a scraper embodying my present invention, and

more particularly illustrating the passage of the sand. This scraper is here shown in its digging position.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of my scraper, taken along the lines 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section of my digging lip, taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 4.

Figure 4 is an enlarged forty-five degree slant view of my digging lip, taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is similar to Figure 4, except that Fig ure 5 shows merely one end of the blade, and that this showing is the variant which omits the forwardly projecting corners.

It should be noted that the representation of the dirt in Figures 1 and 2 represents flow-lines, rather than the actual condition of the dirt at any given instant.

Referring now to Figure l, we see that His one of the side beams of the frame of my scraper.

I These beams extend to a forward wheel or wheels (not shown) of any convenient sort, and/or to a draw-bar (not shown) for attachment to the tractor which is to pull my scraper.

The frame is supported by wheels l2, preferably rubber-tired, of which one is shown.

The bowl I 3 is a box-like structure, open at the top and front, and provided with a digging blade it along its front lower edge. The details of this blade constitute the principal item of my present invention.

The bowl is pivotedat IS, on two links l6, of which one is shown. Other linkage, of which a part is shown at ll, supports the front of the bowl. The bowl is raised and lowered to its three positions (digging, carrying, and dumping) by means of rope l8 and appropriate cooperating sheaves.

The apron I9 is appropriately pivoted to the frame, and is raised and lowered by appropriate means, such as rope 20.

For the details of the operation of bowl and apron (which operation forms no part of my presentinvention except as generically claimed), see the copending patent of Beitzel and myself, already mentioned. For an alternative cycle, see Patent No. 2,106,759, already mentioned.

Suffice it to say here that my invention is applicable to any scraper which has a digging bowl and cooperating dirt-carrying apron which apron opens when the bowl is in its digging position.

Turning now to Figures 3 and 4, it will be noted that my blade 14 has a double curvature as there shown. That is to say, the ends of the blade are higher and further forward than its center, and its digging edge is more inclined than its top edge. The phase double curvature, as used by me, is broad enough to include abrupt changes of direction as alternative and equivalent to an actual curve.

It is to be understood that, when I refer to the ends of my blade as being higher and/or further forward than the center thereof, this language is intended primarily as a means of defining the curvatureof my blade, and is not to be avoided by shearing off any portion-of a blade thus curved. In fact, in practice, I occasionally do shear off the forwardly projecting lower corners, in a transverse vertical plane, as for example as shown at 25 in Figure 5. This shearing-ofl can, of course, occur either before or after any part of the bending is done. 1

By virtue of the double curvature of my blade,

the dirt as dug is directed substantially vertically upwardly and centrally, as slillown at 2| in Figure 1, whence it spills over as shown at 22 and 23, well back in the bowl and apron respectively, instead of merely rolling up in front of the digging edge as in the prior art. An additional function of this double curvature is that it directs the excavated material away from interference by the sides of the bucket and the apron, as shown in Figure 2.

The method of making my particular blade consists in first bending a long narrow piece of plate metal cylindrically about a longitudinal axis indicated by the point 24 in Figure 3, and then bending it cylindrically as indicated in Figure 4, about an axis not shown, inasmuch as its representation would lie off the top of the sheet of drawings.

Either before or after bending, preferably the former, it should be sharpened as indicated in Figure 3.

Having now described and illustrated one form of my invention, I wish it to be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts hereinbefore described and shown, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

This application is a continuation, as to all common subject matter, of my copending application, Serial #194,276, filed March '7, 1938, for improvements in wheeled scrapers, which application will now be permitted to lapse without prejudice, in view of its supersession by this present application.

I claim:

1. In a dirt-digging scoop, the combination of: a digging bowl; a dirt-carrying front apron, occupying a position above and forward of the bowl when the bowl is in digging position; means to support the bowl and apron from the ground; and a digging blade, at the front lower edge of the bowl, and having such a conformation that the ends of the blade lie further forward than its center, and that a vertical section thereof longitudinal of the machine is more nearly horizontal adjacent its digging edge than adjacent its upper edge.

2. In a dirt-digging scoop, the combination of: a digging bowl; a dirt-carrying front apron, occupying a position above and forward of the bowl when the bowl is in digging position; means to support the bowl and apron from the ground; and a digging blade, at the front lower edge of the bowl, and having such a conformation that the ends of the blade lie higher and further forward than its center, and that a vertical section thereof longitudinal of the machine is more nearly horizontal adjacent its digging edge than adjacent its upper edge.

3. In a dirt-digging scoop, the combination of: a digging bowl; a dirt-carrying front apron, occupying a position above and forward of the bowl when the bowl is in digging position; means to support the bowl and apron from the ground; and a digging blade, at the front lower edge of the bowl, and having such conformation that the ends of the blade lie higher than its center, and that a vertical section thereof longitudinal of the machine is more nearly horizontal adjacent its digging edge than adjacent its upper edge.

4. A blade for a dirt-digging scoop, comprising a long narrow substantially rectangular piece of plate metal, having a double curvature, being curved cylindrically about an offset longitudinal axis and about an offset transverse axis, whereby it has such a conformation that, when inclined slightly backward, the ends of the blade lie higher and further forward than its center, and having a sharp lower long edge.

5. A blade for a dirt-digging scoop, according to claim 4, having the ends of its sharp long edge recede toward its non-sharp long edge.

6. A digging blade for a dirt-digging scoop, being long and narrow, and being curved about an axis parallel to its shortest dimension, and also being curved in its sections cut by planes parallel to that axis, its long edges lying in planes perpendicular to that axis.

7. A dig ing blade according to claim 6, having one of its long edges sharpened.

8. A digging blade fora dirt-digging scoop, being long and narrow, and being curved about an axis parallel to its shortest dimension, its long edges lying in planes perpendicular to that axis, the blade being also curved about an axis perpendicular to the first axis.

9. A digging blade according to claim 8, having one of its long edges sharpened.

10. In a dirt-digging scoop, the combination of: a digging bowl; a dirt-carrying front apron, occupying a position above and forward of the bowl when the bowl is in digging position; means to support the bowl and apron from the ground; and a digging blade according to claim 6.

11. In a dirt-digging scoop, the combination of: a digging bowl; a dirt-carrying front apron, occupying a position above and forward of the bowl when the bowl is in digging position; means to support the bowl and apron from the ground; and a digging blade according to claim 8.

THOMAS R. PAULSEN. 

